Last October Germany’s giant startup incubator Rocket Internet invested $10 million in its portfolio company Mebelrama.ru, a Russian online furniture retailer. The transaction was revealed only this past Friday by Mebelrama co-founder Manuella Stoll in an interview with Russian business daily Kommersant.
The investment will help Mebelrama enlarge its assortment, move to a new warehouse, and build a distribution network across Russia’s regions – a daunting task considering the country’s immensity and lack of infrastructure for shipping items ro remote areas.
Stoll has set herself the “realistic goal of reaching a $100 million turnover within the next three years,” based on offerings ranging from furniture to home decor and textiles to gardening tools. Indeed, the company might even reach the $500 million level, Stoll maintains, considering its “aggressive strategy” and its “option for international expansion” throughout other countries of the former Soviet Union.
Established in September of last year, Mebelrama.ru went online in November 2011. Its initial funding was in the range of four to six million dollars, a source told East-West Digital News.
Mebelrama’s premoney valuation in the latest round may have reached “$10 to $15 million,” said Alexey Soloviev, Managing Director of the Russian venture fund Prostor Capital, in an exchange with Kommersant.
Top VCs and giant retailers in the running
The Russian online market for furniture and home decor has been developing fast lately, with much attention from Russian and international investors, as discussed in EWDN’s report on Russian e-commerce.
This past May, HomeMe.ru, a website offering furniture and some home accessories, raised $5 million in a Series A round of financing from AddVenture, ABRT and Luxembourg’s Mangrove Capital Partners.
In October, Apartama.ru, a Moscow-based online retailer of furniture, home appliances and interior design items, secured 30 million rubles (a little less than $1 million) from Russian venture fund Aurora Venture Capital.
The lastest entrant in the market, launched earlier this week, is The Furnish, which focuses on the premium segment.
Furniture is also one of the core offerings of Enter.ru, a bold click-and-mortar initiative launched recently by consumer electronics giant Svyaznoy.
